Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

[Micha]

I would buy/order two 500K volume Pots for my brand new two custom shop humbuckers (neck and bridge)
For now I get bourns pots (they are blue with steel rod, I do not know the exact model) but they are apparently linear.
The volume does not change smoothly as I turn the pot up and down, that's why i suspected that they are linear in my guitar (and again, Orpheo was right, my luthier confirmed that).

I am French and I have trouble with translating all the technical terms so I will not bother some users of this forum with private Messages and i prefer starting this thread.

If i translate I understand that "linéaire" (in French) means "linear" (in Englisch) and "logarithmique" (in French) means "log" or "audio" in English, that's right?
In short, if I order "audio" volume pot, it will necessarily logarithmic and not linear, right ?
Thath means that i will get a pot with wich i can increase and decrease the volume slowly , to get a better control of volume and gain, and no more this sudden increase in the volume ? Am i right ?

My Old Bourns Pots are over 10 years old and I 've never had an ounce of a problem with them, that's why i search some really really good Volume Pots.
Maybe with a steel rod, because I hate the slot in the shaft. I always end up over-tighten the screws of the Knobs that i install of it ...:argh:

In general, I go at my dealer and I order; but this time, I would like to order by myself , to make sure to receive exactly what I wanted/order.
What, apart from the resistance and the bushing length, should I pay attention?

i've found these links:

http://www.ctscorp.com/components/Datasheets/450g.pdf

https://www.bourns.com/data/global/pdfs/bourns_pro_audio.pdf

https://www.bourns.com/ProAudio.aspx?name=pamm

https://www.bourns.com/data/global/pdfs/PDB241-GTR.pdf

could someone explain me (with simple words ) the terms like "(low) torque"


I think i'll go with the Bourns "82 Vintage" because i don't have much/enough room
thanks a lot Guys

Micha

 

[ginormous]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

"Low torque" means it doesn't take a great deal of force to turn.

I believe you have it right with the "log taper" pot as well.

 

[Micha]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

"Low torque" means it doesn't take a great deal of force to turn.

I believe you have it right with the "log taper" pot as well.

Thanks for your answer

Where do you order these pots ?

 

[wolf5150]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

If you want a wider choice of pots, contact Dirk at singlecoil.com

He's the only one I use now.
Great guy with great service.
He usually asks what your setup is and recommends from there.
I love his Mil spec pots with his own treble bleed added.
Fantastic.

He's in Germany so if you're in France, there'll be no duties to pay.

 

[CTN]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

If i translate I understand that "linéaire" (in French) means "linear" (in Englisch) and "logarithmique" (in French) means "log" or "audio" in English, that's right?
In short, if I order "audio" volume pot, it will necessarily logarithmic and not linear, right ?
Thath means that i will get a pot with wich i can increase and decrease the volume slowly , to get a better control of volume and gain, and no more this sudden increase in the volume ? Am i right ?

Oui, c'est correct. Vous avez besoin d'un pot "logarithmique" parce que l'oreille entends volume un peu étrangeur. Si vous metterez deux fois le puissance du signal, vous ne obtenez pas deux fois le volume. Vous devez metterez 10 fois le signal pour recevrez deux fois le volume. C`est un relation exponentiel ou logarithmique. Pour le control de tone, c`est un peu different, parce que vous coupez le signal linéairement. Le control pour tone ne fonctionne pas le même que le volume.

`Low torque`- ca signifie simplement que le pot est plus facile de tourner... il y a moins de résistance mécanique quand vous tournez le bouton.

J`espère que cela a été utile!

 

[Micha]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

If you want a wider choice of pots, contact Dirk at singlecoil.com

He's the only one I use now.
Great guy with great service.
He usually asks what your setup is and recommends from there.
I love his Mil spec pots with his own treble bleed added.
Fantastic.

He's in Germany so if you're in France, there'll be no duties to pay.

Hey thanks, i'll take a look at this solution, thanks.
Ich rede fließend deutsch, von daher ist das absolut kein problem für mich
Danke :friday:

 

[Micha]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

Oui, c'est correct. Vous avez besoin d'un pot "logarithmique" parce que l'oreille entends volume un peu étrangeur. Si vous metterez deux fois le puissance du signal, vous ne obtenez pas deux fois le volume. Vous devez metterez 10 fois le signal pour recevrez deux fois le volume. C`est un relation exponentiel ou logarithmique. Pour le control de tone, c`est un peu different, parce que vous coupez le signal linéairement. Le control pour tone ne fonctionne pas le même que le volume.

`Low torque`- ca signifie simplement que le pot est plus facile de tourner... il y a moins de résistance mécanique quand vous tournez le bouton.

J`espère que cela a été utile!

ah cool, un ami Canadien; Comme j' aimerais visiter ton Pays
Merci pour les précisions mon ami

Wich pots do you use?

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

ah cool, un ami Canadien; Comme j' aimerais visiter ton Pays
Merci pour les précisions mon ami

Wich pots do you use?

A Flagon un woobla la

 

[CTN]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

ah cool, un ami Canadien; Comme j' aimerais visiter ton Pays
Merci pour les précisions mon ami

Wich pots do you use?

De rien! Beaucoup des années passé, J`ai visité France, mais seulement le nord, vers de Paris. C`est vraiment un beau pays, et je voudrais retourner!

J'utilise CTS et Alpha plus souvent, mais je voudrais essayer Bourns, quand ou si je peux le trouve hahaha. J'ai entendu rien que des bonnes choses à leur sujet.

 

[Micha]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

De rien! Beaucoup des années passé, J`ai visité France, mais seulement le nord, vers de Paris. C`est vraiment un beau pays, et je voudrais retourner!

J'utilise CTS et Alpha plus souvent, mais je voudrais essayer Bourns, quand ou si je peux le trouve hahaha. J'ai entendu rien que des bonnes choses à leur sujet.

On the link posted by Wolf5150 we can read some (maybe) very interesting things, click here

A big problem is the horrible tolerance of the modern pots, even high-quality pots from CTS or Mouser have 20% or more. I have seen 500kpots with values of 380k up to over 700k !!!! It ́s a big improvement for your tone to use matched pots with almost no tolerances. There a different ways to get those, you can buy military graded pots with almost no tolerances but it ́s very difficult to get those and even if you managed to buy some, it ́s hard to find the right values for guitars. There are also some technical tricks to change the value, but this is a lot of work and requires special knowledge and good skills in electronics. Or you simply buy a matched set from our webshop or any other supplier. We simply buy large quantities of top-notch pots and measure them. So with time
you get a lot of matched sets. The sound will enhance drastically with such a matched set, it ́s sometimes like taken away a carpet from the amp.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

I go another way. Last time i rewired 2 guitars and ordered 8 cts pots with 500k (i usually like lower bridge vols). I graded them with a multimeter. The highest values went into the neck volumes (both were well over 500), the middle 4 went as tone pots (3 were a hair under 500 and one over) and the two lowest make the bridge volume.

 

[Micha]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

I go another way. Last time i rewired 2 guitars and ordered 8 cts pots with 500k (i usually like lower bridge vols). I graded them with a multimeter. The highest values went into the neck volumes (both were well over 500), the middle 4 went as tone pots (3 were a hair under 500 and one over) and the two lowest make the bridge volume.

it's a solution, if you can't go otherwise.
But what i search is the best pots dealer with minimal tolerances. If i want 500K , i want to have 500K !!
At this moment , it seems like bourns make the best pots.

 

[ZonkieTheDonley]

Re: Wich 500K Volume Pots ?

This is correct, you should use a pot with analog taper for the volume... Understand that this is not an electronic thing but is actually biological, when something sounds twice as loud to the human ear it is actually ten times the sound preshure... Please use your hearing protection